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Newt Gingrich pitch: Hard line and bipartisan

He added, “I don’t think you can be a strong leader and expect everyone to decide they like having a strong leader. And I’m quite happy to say to you I was, as speaker of the House, a very strong leader.”

In a final shot, Gingrich said he was not a “phony,” and would rather be a real reformer making enemies in Washington “than be phony and have Washington happy with me and the American people unhappy.”

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Gingrich took special note of the fact that Obama was in New York at a fundraiser hosted by a prominent Jewish businessman last week and declared that it “cynical” re-election ploy, given his questioning of the president’s commitment to Israel’s security.

“This administration has consistently failed to be responsible and failed to take the steps necessary for the survival of Israel,” he said.

But he also depicted himself as someone who could break gridlock in Washington.

He even hailed Bill Clinton as a good model for the “gestures” that helped create a working environment in the 1990s.

“We couldn’t have gotten done what we did without Clinton,” Gingrich said during his town hall meeting, as part of a riff about the need for bipartisanship, and how it’s a tradition he himself believes in.

“Clinton had been governor for 12 years,” Gingrich went on. “He understood negotiating with the legislature. Little things. Having the … picnic for families. Having families with children bring the kids over. Having people fly on Air Force One. Little courtesies. Phone call on a birthday. There are a thousand small things that create bipartisanship even if you disagree about big things…all the little human things that a good leader can do to get the city of Washington working again.”

Gingrich omitted from his version of events the very famous dust-up that at the time he’d credited in part to for causing the 1995 government shut-down — the orders he was given to exit the rear of Air Force One on the flight to Israel for assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral.

Gingrich said he accepted an invitation to a debate hosted by NewsMax and to be moderated by Donald Trump, adding that he was the first candidate to do so because “I would want to go just for the entertainment value…Trump is a unique American character…it’d be like if Bill Gates called.”

Gingrich also said he would not want a third-party candidate taking part in debates if he becomes the nominee, saying such a hopeful would only exist to help re-elect Obama.

Among those in the crowd for Gingrich’s event was former Staten Island Rep. Vito Fossella, who represented the borough for a decade, but declined to seek re-election amid a personal scandal. He worked with Gingrich in the House, and said he and the former speaker met privately ahead of the event.

Speaking to POLITICO as Gingrich signed books, Fossella, who now works at former Sen. Al D’Amato’s lobbying firm, Park Strategies, said of the meeting, “The purpose was, he is looking for help, not just here, but across the country. I said I would support him in any way I could.”

“Let’s put it this way,” Fossella added, looking at a line of people snaking through the hotel hallway to have books signed by Gingrich and his wife. “I don’t like making predictions in this regard, [but] I would be surprised if he’s not the nominee at this point.”

Readers' Comments (27)

Newt, keep telling folks that you make more money is 45 minutes of bloviating then they make in a year.

"I did no lobbying of any kind – period, I'm going to be really direct, OK? I was charging $60,000 a speech. And the number of speeches was going up, not down. Normally, celebrities leave and they gradually sell fewer speeches every year. We were selling more." - Disgraced Former Speaker Newt "I'm the smartest guy in the room" Gingrich

“One of the surprising things in this world is the respect a worthless man has for himself” - Edgar Watson Howe

Gingrich attributed his affairs in office to the stresses of working in government. He said his being over-patriotic caused the "lapses." You know the lapses where he divorced his cancer striken wife and the other lapse where he dumped his wife who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

If being third in line to the Presidency caused him to havethese affairs rather than heed and do something about the jihadi warnings of Osama Bin Laden, can anyone seriously trust this man's libido in the White House?

The only Speaker of the House to be convicted by the House Ethics Committee of violating federal law and lying to obstruct justice, sanctioned an unprecedented $300,000--and cut & ran from the House leadership in disgrace and resigned from congress in defeat.

"One time only/Seal the borders" amnesty voter Newt who betrayed America's trust & did zero as a "power player" congressman & Speaker to reduce illegal immigration & shut down U.S. borders. Now he's back 20 years later conning amnesty & "Council Boards" to scam legalizing15 million more illegals on the bankrupt taxpayer's dime.

Serial adulterer who dumped TWO wives (one with cancer, one with MS) to take off with his mistresses.

Marathon flip flopper on a dime during preps 2012 on each of his long held key doctrines to win an election--i.e.,

Pelosi Cap & Trade

Bush Tarp Bank Bailouts

Individual Mandate on the Federal level: 1992-May 2011

Gingrich, quote: "Hillary is one of the very few people who know what to do about healthcare."

Support for far left GOP candidates like Scozzafava & other Partial Birth Abortion politicians.

Amnesty obfuscation walk back

"Extremist... right-wing social engineering" Ryan Plan

Freddie Mac ties--ditto his insistence that "political influences" got to jail & return their financial contributions from the mortgage entity that sunk the private sector & stock holders pensions. (Gingrich never returned a cent & has yet to check himself into jail.)

The good news for Romney is that Obama & his top henchmen Axelrod, Plouffe, Emanuel & Kerry have made obvious that they fear Romney FAR more than Gingrich. The DNC knows what the GOP knows. That Romney gets key demographics women & independents--Gingrich never has & never will after Team Obama & their MSM get finished with train wreak Newt in perpetual motion.

Newt is playing it exactly right by not attacking the other candidates. After all, we are all united in one thing - the country cannot recover until Obama and his socialist enablers are removed from power. The candidate we select to run against him is most likely to be the one who is best at slapping him around.

Gingrich's problem is that he is a loose cannon and will most likely self-immolate. He is a man of many ideas, but they are not supported by practical solutions. His proposal that community boards decide the fate of illegal aliens is a flagrant example. (Should the illegals have to audition or campaign to get the votes of the jurors?)

Another example is Newt's views on child labor and poor people's, in his view, inferior work habits : "They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal."

No one is more responsible for the rancor in Washingtion than Gingrich so I guess this is fitting

LONG BEFORE NEWT WE HAD BORKING IN 1987!

Verb: Obstruct (someone, esp. a candidate for public office) through systematic defamation or vilification.

Robert Bork who's confirmation hearings were driven off the rails in the midst of partisan politics. No matter which side you agree with, it was clear that the process itself was totally broken as a result.

JACKIE GINGRICH CUSHMAN"The tumor was benign. My mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, is very much alive, and often spends time with my family"

Unfortunately for the gossip minded, nearly every aspect of the story is false and has been roundly debunked by what should be considered a pretty reliable source – his own daughter who was in the hospital room at the time.

So, to correct the record, here is what happened: My mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, is very much alive, and often spends time with my family. I am lucky to have such a “Miracle Mom,” as I titled her in a column this week.

As for my parents’ divorce, I can remember when they told me. It was the spring of 1980.

I was 13 years old, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. My parents told my sister and me that they were getting a divorce as our family of four sat around the kitchen table of our ranch home.

Later that summer, Mom went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for surgery to remove a tumor. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her.

It is this visit that has turned into the infamous hospital visit about which many untruths have been told. I won’t repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths.

But here’s what happened: My mother and father were already in the process of getting a divorce, which she requested. Dad took my sister and me to the hospital to see our mother. She had undergone surgery the day before to remove a tumor. The tumor was benign.

So if you see anyone repeating this myth, do everyone a favor and point them to his daughter’s account of the story.

UPDATE: From the Credit Where Credit Is Due department. The Washington Post also douses the myth with cold water.

If there's anyone more arrogant and insufferable than Obama, it's Newt Gingrich. I can't believe the Republican Party, with the gift of Obama to easily beat in 2012, would pick this monstrosity as their nominee. It would be a complete abdication of reason and unforgivable.